Here is a common scene: A supervisor agrees to write your letter of recommendation with one condition—you draft it. Shocker. We, too, were surprised the first time this happened to us. We assumed ...

Writing romantic love letters can feel like a prehistoric practice these days—where do you even get stamps? (Kidding. Kind of.) But for most of human history, if you wanted to express your feelings to ...

This week, as we near the end of 2025, the writers and editors of KQED Arts & Culture are reflecting on One Beautiful Thing ...

"What is healing, but a shift in perspective?” — Mark Doty, Heaven’s Coast Transactional writing — or letter writing — gets you beyond what you thought you could not get over. With all the other ways ...

A few years ago, I wrote “A Letter to College Students (From All Profs)” in which I provided advice to students about how to ask for letters of recommendation. Interestingly, just as students do not ...

Last week we dropped my two sons off at their first overnight camp. They are 9 and 11. They will spend almost a month there, and we will be here, at home, feeling weird about things. Since the only ...

Sitting in my favorite downtown pub has become a fond memory as New Mexico enters week three of “social distancing” to slow community spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. That was where I often wrote ...

The ease of writing letters on the Apple iPad is entirely dependent on the user's experience with tablets and with touch-screen technology. If you have prior experience with Apple products such as the ...